President Joe Biden has his hands full on immigration: Families and unaccompanied youngsters are flooding the southern border, stressing to the breaking point his administration’s capacity to house and process them in a non-crisis crisis. Republicans smell political blood in the water.
In this climate, it was sure to be hard for Biden to follow through on his promise to swiftly increase the cap on refugee admissions from former President Donald Trump’s horribly stingy low of 15,000. Hard, but morally necessary. So we hope the president learned his lesson from Friday’s unacceptable U-turn, which was followed hours later by a necessary but embarrassing second U-turn.
An openness to refugees — who are fleeing wars and persecution, and have to jump through many hoops before they are allowed to relocate here, in a process completely separate from the one applied to asylum-seekers at the border — has long been a hallmark of the American character. Throughout our history, refugees have proven some of the most inspiring and productive Americans, who every year give far more to our economy than they take.
During the last administration, facts succumbed to fear. Claiming “our country is full,” Trump turned his back en masse to the world’s freedom-seekers, limiting humanitarian admissions to never-before-seen lows based on the lie that these newcomers hurt native-born Americans.
Candidate Biden, expressing a better American creed, pledged to work with Congress to ensure that the U.S. admit a minimum of 95,000 refugees per year. Two months ago, he said the cap for the next fiscal year would rise to 125,000, with a “down payment” toward that goal in the near term.
Friday came a reversal, then a reversal of the reversal, with a (final answer?) promise to raise the cap in May. Turns out, even Washington veterans make boneheaded rookie mistakes.
— New York Daily News